


Ice

by Womble1



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Dogs, Fluff, Gen, Ice, not really dangerious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Womble1/pseuds/Womble1
Summary: a rescue out in the ice and snow, what could go wrong?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Ice

They were trekking across the snow, both of them silently thanking Brains for the specialised cold weather gear. Yes they had laughed at the blue fur trim when he first showed it to them, but boy were they grateful now. They had rescued a family of tourists who had strayed off the beaten path during an ill-advised family walk that got cut short by sudden snowfall. The family were now tucked up warmly in Thunderbird Two being looked after by Gordon. But now Scott and Virgil were going after the family dog that had got startled by Thunderbird 2 landing and run off into the trees. John's scans weren’t able to differentiate the family's dog from any wild animals in the area, and the drones were no use with the trees, so they were reduced to doing it the old fashioned way. At least the snow had stopped now, but it was bitterly cold. Virgil looked across at Scott, only his rosey nose was visible from this angle and that combined with the fur trim made him look like a Christmas grotto Elf. They were following the skittery paw prints in the snow around the edge of a frozen over lake. 

“How far could this dog have got Virg?” Scott asked, clapping his mittens together to try and encourage the circulation a little more. 

“Well it's a Bernese Mountain dog, so I just hope it hasn't gone up a mountain” replied Virgil, trying to scuff off some of the excess snow that was building up on his boots as he stomped along. 

Scott cupped his hands to his face, looking even more like a carol singer on a Christmas card and set to bellowing out the dog's name again. 

“ARCHIE! Here Boy!” Virgil chuckled at the thought that somewhere back in the POD Gordons ears would be pricking up, as Scott was using the exact same tone usually reserved for calling Gordon out of the pool.

There was a rustle at the edge of the tree line and they could just see a shiny black nose snuffling out of the shadows. They slowly spread out just a little, in case the dog made a run for it. 

“Archie, good boy, come and see what we’ve got, there's a good dog” Scott crouched down crumbling something in his hands and holding it towards the dog.

“What have you got there?” asked Virgil, at a loss as to what his brother could have to tempt the animal. 

“Celery crunch bar,” replied Scott, not taking his eyes off the treeline “it was the only thing I could find, don’t tell Gordon.” Virgil shrugged in response, it was worth a go he supposed. 

Archie started edging out from the trees, a little tentatively, but at least in the right direction. Scott and Virgil slowly edged closer, one inching step at a time cutting down the distance, careful not to spook the pup.

Eventually after what felt like an icy lifetime they were close enough for Scott to get hold of the dogs collar, who now seemed comfortable enough with them that Scott even went as far as to give him a scratch behind the ears and plenty of praise.

“There's a good boy, right, lets see about getting you back,” He reached into his pockets to try and find something that he could use as a leash, but with no luck. “ Hey Virg, you got anything we can use as a lead in your Mary Poppins stash?” this earned him a mild glare in return. Virgil took a step back as he started working through the pockets and pouches spread about his uniform.

“How about th-” he stopped abruptly as they both heard the ominous sound of ice cracking. Whilst they had been so intent on creeping up on Archie, neither of them had noticed that they had strayed onto the edge of the frozen lake, the shoreline blurred by banks of snow. The brothers eyes met briefly over the body of the dog, each registering panic, this could be bad, very bad. In a split second Virgil could feel the ice beneath his boot start to give, his brain started to race through possible actions, helpfully supplying him with a list of all the ways a dip under the ice could kill him but no solutions to his predicament. His knees locked as his body was tilted by the change in surface below him. Archie seemed to pick up that something was wrong and quickly swung his head towards Virgil's frozen form. Some sort of herding instinct seemed to cut in, and the dog leapt up towards Virgil's now windmilling arms, easily dodging Scots flailing grasp. Dog and International Rescue operative toppled in a mess of arms and fur. Scotts mind was already rushing ahead, supplying the next obvious image of both brother and dog sinking into ice cold water as he scrambled to his feet. 

But they didn't, there was no resounding splash, there was no shattering shards of ice. There was an undignified “Oooof” followed by a thud and rounded off with some barking. The heel of Virgil's boot was wedged in about 5 inches of cracked ice, the rest of him was sprawled under a very licky dog. Scott carefully edged across to help extricate the friendly dog, a slightly bemused frown on his face as he tried to piece together why things were not as dramatic as he had envisioned. 

The ice under Virgil's boot had cracked, but he had only been a few feet into the frozen lake, at what was still a very shallow section. The place where his boot was wedged was no deeper than a reasonably ambitious puddle. Archies intervention had toppled the pair onto a little slither of silt and sand that jutted out into the body of water. Meaning that the majority of Virgil's bulk had crash landed on earth and not ice, thereby saving them both an unseasonable dunking. Bernese mountain dogs are, however, not small, and this could possibly account for why Virgil's responses to Scotts questions about his well being came back a few octaves higher than usual. 

A little ungainly bum shuffling and sliding soon had all three of them back once again on solid earth, and they started the trudge back towards Thunderbird two. Archie was wearing a section of climbing rope as an improvised leash, and looking very pleased with himself and his first rescue. As he trotted along ahead of the brothers, he kept looking back every few feet, seemingly to check that they were both still there and unharmed, it didn't look like he trusted them to stay that way without supervision. 

Once they got back to Thunderbird Two they reunited Archie with his family, and watched him launch himself at each of them in turn. The tackle-hug was clearly a signature move for Archie. They quickly packed up and got the family safely back to civilization before heading home themselves. Gordon was in fits of giggles when they recounted their snowy adventure and all the deadly outcomes they had been imagining for those few seconds before Virgil's canine saviour had leaped in to save the day. It didn't help with Gordons composure when he spotted that Virgil was flying home wearing only one boot, having hung the other one up to dry after its semi dunking. The Christmas socks were an unexpected sight, and set Gordon off all over again, wiping tears from his eyes and clutching at his giggle sore ribs. Scott made a mental note to check the sugar levels in the sachets of hot chocolate they kept on board for emergency hot drinks and once again wished he had bought Thunderbird 1, it could be a long journey home.


End file.
